Statement on the train-derailed accident on JR West Co.’s Fukuchiyama Line

26 April 2005

Yesterday, on 25 April, around 9:18 a.m. a big accident occurred between Amagasaki and Tsukaguchi stations on West Japan Railway Co.’s Fukuchiyama Line. The seven-car rapid train (5418M) that originated at Takarazuka station and was bound for Doshishamae station derailed at the curve near the crossing and smashed into a multistory apartment building.

Five cars of the seven-car train derailed, sending the first and second cars slamming into the apartment building. The two cars crashed and fractured like L shape. As of this morning the number of casualties is reported as 72 killed and 442 injured. This number might increase because rescue efforts are under way in the first car as of now. This tragedy is far worse than Shigaraki Railway accident in May 1991 claimed 42 lives and injured 628 and it is the worst disaster in JR history. We express our sincere condolences to the train accident victims and our heartfelt sympathies to those who were injured.

According to the news report, “the derailment on the curve was allegedly caused by the 23-year-old driver’s overspeed.” Some say the vulnerability of light-weight train cars made the damages bigger. The JR West Company, the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Commission of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry and the Hyogo prefectural police department are now conducting an investigation. We, feeling heartbreaking grief, should ascertain the background factor of this disaster as well as its direct cause.

Up to today JR West Company has given priority to traffic operation and profits over safety and blamed its workers on accidents. JR West has repeated accidents and malfeasance such as Shigaraki Railway accident(May 1991), the accidents with concrete blocks falling down in Sanyo Shinkansen bullet train tunnels(November 1999) and the falsification of inspection record on track maintenance(2004), since management and labor of JR West boycotted the International Railway Safety Conference in 1990. On the accident that the train hit and killed an ambulance attendant on JR Tokaido Line in November 2002, the Osaka District Court indicated in its verdict that dispatcher operation system of JR West Company could be said to focus on only for early recovery of train diagram.

It is still fresh in our minds that the JR West Company pushed Masaki Hattori, a driver of Amagasaki Train Depot, to suicide, bullying in the name of “Day-shift education” on the excuse of a clerical error.

However, this time, JR West is going to force the workers almost impossible recovery work on the pretext of “Reduction of downtime” as shown in its new medium-term program ”Challenge 2008”. The now proposed new wage system intends reinforcement of labor control that incites workers to compete with one another showing off an “Evaluation doctrine”.

We point out JR West’s stance of safety depreciation that gives priority to traffic operation or profits is behind this accident. It is significantly tragic, in that sense, that JR West invited the disaster again without learning our warning or lessons of the past.

We should seriously work at ascertaining the cause of the accident, opposing the JR West Company’s buck-passing to workers with our idea “From pursuit of responsibility to investigation into cause”. Going back to our starting point of the JNR reforms, we intend to do our utmost to build up the Safety-First corporate climate of each JR company with all JR workers including comrades of JR West Union.